FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS
CHAPTER III
Persecutions of the Christians in Persia
The Gospel having spread itself into Persia, the pagan priests, who worshipped
the sun, were greatly alarmed, and dreaded the loss of that influence they had hitherto
maintained over the people's minds and properties. Hence they thought it expedient
to complain to the emperor that the Christians were enemies to the state, and held
a treasonable correspondence with the Romans, the great enemies of Persia.
The emperor Sapores, being naturally averse to Christianity, easily believed what
was said against the Christians, and gave orders to persecute them in all parts of
his empire. On account of this mandate, many eminent persons in the church and state
fell martyrs to the ignorance and ferocity of the pagans.
Constantine the Great being informed of the persecutions in Persia, wrote a long
letter to the Persian monarch, in which he recounts the vengeance that had fallen
on persecutors, and the great success that had attended those who had refrained from
persecuting the Christians.
Speaking of his victories over rival emperors of his own time, he said, "I
subdued these solely by faith in Christ; for which God was my helper, who gave me
victory in battle, and made me triumph over my enemies. He hath likewise so enlarged
to me the bounds of the Roman Empire, that it extends from the Western Ocean almost
to the uttermost parts of the East: for this domain I neither offered sacrifices
to the ancient deities, nor made use of charm or divination; but only offered up
prayers to the Almighty God, and followed the cross of Christ. Rejoiced should I
be if the throne of Persia found glory also, by embracing the Christians: that so
you with me, and they with you, may enjoy all happiness.
In consequence of this appeal, the persecution ended for the time, but it was
renewed in later years when another king succeeded to the throne of Persia.
Persecutions Under the Arian Heretics
The author of the Arian heresy was Arius, a native of Lybia, and a priest of Alexandria,
who, in A.D. 318, began to publish his errors. He was condemned by a council of Lybian
and Egyptian bishops, and that sentence was confirmed by the Council of Nice, A.D.
325. After the death of Constantine the Great, the Arians found means to ingratiate
themselves into the favor of the emperor Constantinus, his son and successor in the
east; and hence a persecution was raised against the orthodox bishops and clergy.
The celebrated Athanasius, and other bishops, were banished, and their sees filled
with Arians.
In Egypt and Lybia, thirty bishops were martyred, and many other Christians cruelly
tormented; and, A.D. 386, George, the Arian bishop of Alexandria, under the authority
of the emperor, began a persecution in that city and its environs, and carried it
on with the most infernal severity. He was assisted in his diabolical malice by Catophonius,
governor of Egypt; Sebastian, general of the Egyptian forces;
Faustinus, the treasurer; and Heraclius, a Roman officer.
The persecutions now raged in such a manner that the clergy were driven from Alexandria,
their churches were shut, and the severities practiced by the Arian heretics were
as great as those that had been practiced by the pagan idolaters. If a man, accused
of being a Christian, made his escape, then his whole family were massacred, and
his effects confiscated.
Persecution Under Julian the Apostate
This emperor was the son of Julius Constantius, and the nephew of Constantine
the Great. He studied the rudiments of grammar under the inspection of Mardonius,
a eunuch, and a heathen of Constantinople. His father sent him some time after to
Nicomedia, to be instructed in the Christian religion, by the bishop of Eusebius,
his kinsman, but his principles were corrupted by the pernicious doctrines of Ecebolius
the rhetorician, and Maximus the magician.
Constantius, dying the year 361, Julian succeeded him, and had no sooner attained
the imperial dignity than he renounced Christianity and embraced paganism, which
had for some years fallen into great disrepute. Though he restored the idolatrous
worship, he made no public edicts against Christianity. He recalled all banished
pagans, allowed the free exercise of religion to every sect, but deprived all Christians
of offices at court, in the magistracy, or in the army. He was chaste, temperate,
vigilant, laborious, and pious; yet he prohibited any Christian from keeping a school
or public seminary of learning, and deprived all the Christian clergy of the privileges
granted them by Constantine the Great.
Biship Basil made himself first famous by his opposition to Arianism, which brought
upon him the vengeance of the Arian bishop of Constantinople; he equally opposed
paganism. The emperor's agents in vain tampered with Basil by means of promises,
threats, and racks, he was firm in the faith, and remained in prison to undergo some
other sufferings, when the emperor came accidentally to Ancyra. Julian determined
to examine Basil himself, when that holy man being brought before him, the emperor
did every thing in his power to dissuade him from persevering in the faith. Basil
not only continued as firm as ever, but, with a prophetic spirit foretold the death
of the emperor, and that he should be tormented in the other life. Enraged at what
he heard, Julian commanded that the body of Basil should be torn every day in seven
different parts, until his skin and flesh were entirely mangled. This inhuman sentence
was executed with rigor, and the martyr expired under its severities, on June 28,
A.D. 362.
Donatus, bishop of Arezzo, and Hilarinus, a hermit, suffered about the same time;
also Gordian, a Roman magistrate. Artemius, commander in chief of the Roman forces
in Egypt, being a Christian, was deprived of his commission, then of his estate,
and lastly of his head.
The persecution raged dreadfully about the latter end of the year 363; but, as
many of the particulars have not been handed down to us, it is necessary to remark
in general, that in Palestine many were burnt alive, others were dragged by their
feet through the streets naked until they expired; some were scalded to death, many
stoned, and great numbers had their brains beaten out with clubs. In Alexandria,
innumerable were the martyrs who suffered by the sword, burning, crucifixion and
stoning. In Arethusa, several were ripped open, and corn being put into their bellies,
swine were brought to feed therein, which, in devouring the grain, likewise devoured
the entrails of the martyrs, and in Thrace, Emilianus was burnt at a stake; and Domitius
murdered in a cave, whither he had fled for refuge.
The emperor, Julian the apostate, died of a wound which he received in his Persian
expedition, A.D. 363, and even while expiring, uttered the most horrid blasphemies.
He was succeeded by Jovian, who restored peace to the Church.
After the decease of Jovian, Valentinian succeeded to the empire, and associated
to himself Valens, who had the command in the east, and was an Arian and of an unrelenting
and persecuting disposition.
Persecution of the Christians by the Goths and Vandals.
Many Scythian Goths having embraced Christianity about the time of Constantine
the Great, the light of the Gospel spread itself considerably in Scythia, though
the two kings who ruled that country, and the majority of the people continued pagans.
Fritegern, king of the West Goths, was an ally to the Romans, but Athanarich, king
of the East Goths, was at war with them. The Christians, in the dominions of the
former, lived unmolested, but the latter, having been defeated by the Romans, wreaked
his vengeance on his Christian subjects, commencing his pagan injunctions in the
year 370.
In religion the Goths were Arians, and called themselves Christians; therefore
they destroyed all the statues and temples of the heathen gods, but did no harm to
the orthodox Christian churches. Alaric had all the qualities of a great general.
To the wild bravery of the Gothic barbarian he added the courage and skill of the
Roman soldier. He led his forces across the Alps into Italy, and although driven
back for the time, returned afterward with an irresistible force.
The Last Roman "Triumph"
After this fortunate victory over the Goths a "triumph," as it was called,
was celebrated at Rome. For hundreds of years successful generals had been awarded
this great honor on their return from a victorious campaign. Upon such occasions
the city was given up for days to the marching of troops laden with spoils, and who
dragged after them prisoners of war, among whom were often captive kings and conquered
generals. This was to be the last Roman triumph, for it celebrated the last Roman
victory. Although it had been won by Stilicho, the general, it was the boy emperor,
Honorius, who took the credit, entering Rome in the car of victory, and driving to
the Capitol amid the shouts of the populace. Afterward, as was customary on such
occasions, there were bloody combats in the Colosseum, where gladiators, armed with
swords and spears, fought as furiously as if they were on the field of battle.
The first part of the bloody entertainment was finished; the bodies of the dead
were dragged off with hooks, and the reddened sand covered with a fresh, clean layer.
After this had been done the gates in the wall of the arena were thrown open, and
a number of tall, well-formed men in the prime of youth and strength came forward.
Some carried swords, others three-pronged spears and nets. They marched once around
the walls, and stopping before the emperor, held up their weapons at arm's length,
and with one voice sounded out their greeting, Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant!
"Hail, Caesar, those about to die salute thee!"
The combats now began again; the glatiators with nets tried to entangle those
with swords, and when they succeeded mercilessly stabbed their antagonists to death
with the three-pronged spear. When a glatiator had wounded his adversary, and had
him lying helpless at his feet, he looked up at the eager faces of the spectators,
and cried out, Hoc habet! "He has it!" and awaited the pleasure of the
audience to kill or spare.
If the spectators held out their hands toward him, with thumbs upward, the defeated
man was taken away, to recover if possible from his wounds. But if the fatal signal
of "thumbs down" was given, the conquered was to be slain; and if he showed
any reluctance to present his neck for the death blow, there was a scornful shout
from the galleries, Recipe ferrum! "Receive the steel!" Privileged persons
among the audience would even descend into the arena, to better witness the death
agonies of some unusually brave victim, before his corpse was dragged out at the
death gate.
The show went on; many had been slain, and the people, madly excited by the desperate
bravery of those who continued to fight, shouted their applause. But suddenly there
was an interruption. A rudely clad, robed figure appeared for a moment among the
audience, and then boldly leaped down into the arena. He was seen to be a man of
rough but imposing presence, bareheaded and with sun-browned face. Without hesitating
an instant he advanced upon two gladiators engaged in a life-and-death struggle,
and laying his hand upon one of them sternly reproved him for shedding innocent blood,
and then, turning toward the thousands of angry faces ranged around him, called upon
them in a solemn, deep-toned voice which resounded through the deep inclosure. These
were his words: "Do not requite God's mercy in turning away the swords of your
enemies by murdering each other!"
Angry shouts and cries at once drowned his voice: "This is no place for preaching!--the
old customs of Rome must be observed!--On, gladiators!" Thrusting aside the
stranger, the gladiators would have again attacked each other, but the man stood
between, holding them apart, and trying in vain to be heard. "Sedition! sedition!
down with him!" was then the cry; and the gladiators, enraged at the interference
of an outsider with their chosen vocation, at once stabbed him to death. Stones,
or whatever missiles came to hand, also rained down upon him from the furious people,
and thus he perished, in the midst of the arena.
His dress showed him to be one of the hermits who vowed themselves to a holy life
of prayer and self-denial, and who were reverenced by even the thoughtless and combat-loving
Romans. The few who knew him told how he had come from the wilds of Asia on a pilgrimage,
to visit the churches and keep his Christmas at Rome; they knew he was a holy man,
and that his name was Telemachus-no more. His spirit had been stirred by the sight
of thousands flocking to see men slaughter one another, and in his simple-hearted
zeal he had tried to convince them of the cruelty and wickedness of their conduct.
He had died, but not in vain. His work was accomplished at the moment he was struck
down, for the shock of such a death before their eyes turned the hearts of the people:
they saw the hideous aspects of the favorite vice to which they had blindly surrendered
themselves; and from the day Telemachus fell dead in the Colosseum, no other fight
of gladiators was ever held there.
Persecutions from About the Middle of the Fifth, to the Conclusion of the Seventh
Century
Proterius was made a priest by Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, who was well acquainted
with his virtues, before he appointed him to preach. On the death of Cyril, the see
of Alexandria was filled by Discorus, an inveterate enemy to the memory and family
of his predecessor. Being condemned by the council of Chalcedon for having embraced
the errors of Eutyches, he was deposed, and Proterius chosen to fill the vacant see,
who was approved of by the emperor. This occasioned a dangerous insurrection, for
the city of Alexandria was divided into two factions; the one to espouse the cause
of the old, and the other of the new prelate. In one of the commotions, the Eutychians
determined to wreak their vengeance on Proterius, who fled to the church for sanctuary:
but on Good Friday, A.D. 457, a large body of them rushed into the church, and barbarously
murdered the prelate; after which they dragged the body through the streets, insulted
it, cut it to pieces, burnt it, and scattered the ashes in the air.
Hermenigildus, a Gothic prince, was the eldest son of Leovigildus, a king of the
Goths, in Spain. This prince, who was originally an Arian, became a convert to the
orthodox faith, by means of his wife Ingonda. When the king heard that his son had
changed his religious sentiments, he stripped him of the command at Seville, where
he was governor, and threatened to put him to death unless he renounced the faith
he had newly embraced. The prince, in order to prevent the execution of his father's
menaces, began to put himself into a posture of defence; and many of the orthodox
persuasion in Spain declared for him. The king, exasperated at this act of rebellion,
began to punish all the orthodox Christians who could be seized by his troops, and
thus a very severe persecution commenced: he likewise marched against his son at
the head of a very powerful army. The prince took refuge in Seville, from which he
fled, and was at length besieged and taken at Asieta. Loaded with chains, he was
sent to Seville, and at the feast of Easter refusing to receive the Eucharist from
an Arian bishop, the enraged king ordered his guards to cut the prince to pieces,
which they punctually performed, April 13, A.D. 586.
Martin, bishop of Rome, was born at Todi, in Italy. He was naturally inclined
to virtue, and his parents bestowed on him an admirable education. He opposed the
heretics called Monothelites, who were patronized by the emperor Heraclius. Martin
was condemned at Constantinople, where he was exposed in the most public places to
the ridicule of the people, divested of all episcopal marks of distinction, and treated
with the greatest scorn and severity. After lying some months in prison, Martin was
sent to an island at some distance, and there cut to pieces, A.D. 655.
John, bishop of Bergamo, in Lombardy, was a learned man, and a good Christian.
He did his utmost endeavors to clear the Church from the errors of Arianism, and
joining in this holy work with John, bishop of Milan, he was very successful against
the heretics, on which account he was assassinated on July 11, A.D. 683.
Killien was born in Ireland, and received from his parents a pious and Christian
education. He obtained the Roman pontiff's license to preach to the pagans in Franconia,
in Germany. At Wurtzburg he converted Gozbert, the governor, whose example was followed
by the greater part of the people in two years after. Persuading Gozbert that his
marriage with his brother's widow was sinful, the latter had him beheaded, A.D. 689.
Persecutions from the Early Part of the Eighth, to Near the Conclusion
of the Tenth Century
Boniface, archbishop of Mentz, and father of the German church, was an Englishman,
and is, in ecclasiastical history, looked upon as one of the brightest ornaments
of this nation. Originally his name was Winfred, or Winfrith, and he was born at
Kirton, in Devonshire, then part of the West-Saxon kingdom. When he was only about
six years of age, he began to discover a propensity to reflection, and seemed solicitous
to gain information on religious subjects. Wolfrad, the abbot, finding that he possessed
a bright genius, as well as a strong inclination to study, had him removed to Nutscelle,
a seminary of learning in the diocese of Winchester, where he would have a much greater
opportunity of attaining improvements than at Exeter.
After due study, the abbot seeing him qualified for the priesthood, obliged him
to receive that holy order when he was about thirty years old. From which time he
began to preach and labor for the salvation of his fellow creatures; he was released
to attend a synod of bishops in the kingdom of West-Saxons. He afterwards, in 719,
went to Rome, where Gregory II who then sat in Peter's chair, received him with great
friendship, and finding him full of all virtues that compose the character of an
apostolic missionary, dismissed him without commission at large to preach the Gospel
to the pagans wherever he found them. Passing through Lombardy and Bavaria, he came
to Thuringia, which country had before received the light of the Gospel, he next
visited Utrecht, and then proceeded to Saxony, where he converted some thousands
to Christianity.
During the ministry of this meek prelate, Pepin was declared king of France. It
was that prince's ambition to be crowned by the most holy prelate he could find,
and Boniface was pitched on to perform that ceremony, which he did at Soissons, in
752. The next year, his great age and many infirmities lay so heavy on him, that,
with the consent of the new king, and the bishops of his diocese, he consecrated
Lullus, his countryman, and faithful disciple, and placed him in the see of Mentz.
When he had thus eased himself of his charge, he recommended the church of Mentz
to the care of the new bishop in very strong terms, desired he would finish the church
at Fuld, and see him buried in it, for his end was near. Having left these orders,
he took boat to the Rhine, and went to Friesland, where he converted and baptized
several thousands of barbarous natives, demolished the temples, and raised churches
on the ruins of those superstitious structures. A day being appointed for confirming
a great number of new converts, he ordered them to assemble in a new open plain,
near the river Bourde. Thither he repaired the day before; and, pitching a tent,
determined to remain on the spot all night, in order to be ready early in the morning.
Some pagans, who were his inveterate enemies, having intelligence of this, poured
down upon him and the companions of his mission in the night, and killed him and
fifty-two of his companions and attendants on June 5, A.D. 755. Thus fell the great
father of the Germanic Church, the honor of England, and the glory of the age in
which he lived.
Forty-two persons of Armorian in Upper Phyrgia, were martyred in the year 845,
by the Saracens, the circumstances of which transactions are as follows:
In the reign of Theophilus, the Saracens ravaged many parts of the eastern empire,
gained several considerable advantages over the Christians, took the city of Armorian,
and numbers suffered martyrdom.
Flora and Mary, two ladies of distinction, suffered martyrdom at the same time.
Perfectus was born at Corduba, in Spain, and brought up in the Christian faith.
Having a quick genius, he made himself master of all the useful and polite literature
of that age; and at the same time was not more celebrated for his abilities than
admired for his piety. At length he took priest's orders, and performed the duties
of his office with great assiduity and punctuality. Publicly declaring Mahomet an
impostor, he was sentenced to be beheaded, and was accordingly executed, A.D. 850;
after which his body was honorably interred by the Christians.
Adalbert, bishop of Prague, a Bohemian by birth, after being involved in many
troubles, began to direct his thoughts to the conversion of the infidels, to which
end he repaired to Dantzic, where he converted and baptized many, which so enraged
the pagan priests, that they fell upon him, and despatched him with darts, on April
23, A.D. 997.
Persecutions in the Eleventh Century
Alphage, archbishop of Canterbury, was descended from a considerable family in
Gloucestershire, and received an education suitable to his illustrious birth. His
parents were worthy Christians, and Alphage seemed to inherit their virtues.
The see of Winchester being vacant by the death of Ethelwold, Dunstan, archbishop
of Canterbury, as primate of all England, consecrated Alphage to the vacant bishopric,
to the general satisfaction of all concerned in the diocese.
Dustain had an extraordinary veneration for Alphage, and, when at the point of
death, made it his ardent request to God that he might succeed him in the see of
Canterbury; which accordingly happened, though not until about eighteen years after
Dunstan's death in 1006.
After Alphage had governed the see of Canterbury about four years, with great
reputation to himself, and benefit to his people, the Danes made an incursion into
England, and laid siege to Canterbury. When the design of attacking this city was
known, many of the principal people made a flight from it, and would have persuaded
Alphage to follow their example. But he, like a good pastor, would not listen to
such a proposal. While he was employed in assisting and encouraging the people, Canterbury
was taken by storm; the enemy poured into the town, and destroyed all that came in
their way by fire and sword. He had the courage to address the enemy, and offer himself
to their swords, as more worthy of their rage than the people: he begged they might
be saved, and that they would discharge their whole fury upon him. They accordingly
seized him, tied his hands, insulted and abused him in a rude and barbarous manner,
and obliged him to remain on the spot until his church was burnt, and the monks massacred.
They then decimated all the inhabitants, both ecclesiastics and laymen, leaving only
every tenth person alive; so that they put 7236 persons to death, and left only four
monks and 800 laymen alive, after which they confined the archbishop in a dungeon,
where they kept him close prisoner for several months.
During his confinement they proposed to him to redeem his liberty with the sum
of 3000 pounds, and to persuade the king to purchase their departure out of the kingdom,
with a further sum of 10,000 pounds. As Alphage's circumstances would not allow him
to satisfy the exorbitant demand, they bound him, and put him to severe torments,
to oblige him to discover the treasure of the church; upon which they assured him
of his life and liberty, but the prelate piously persisted in refusing to give the
pagans any account of it. They remanded him to prison again, confined him six days
longer, and then, taking him prisoner with them to Greenwich, brought him to trial
there. He still remained inflexible with respect to the church treasure; but exhorted
them to forsake their idolatry, and embrace Christianity. This so greatly incensed
the Danes, that the soldiers dragged him out of the camp and beat him unmercifully.
One of the soldiers, who had been converted by him, knowing that his pains would
be lingering, as his death was determined on, actuated by a kind of barbarous compassion,
cut off his head, and thus put the finishing stroke to his martyrdom, April 19, A.D.
1012. This transaction happened on the very spot where the church at Greenwich, which
is dedicated to him, now stands. After his death his body was thrown into the Thames,
but being found the next day, it was buried in the cathedral of St. Paul's by the
bishops of London and Lincoln; from whence it was, in 1023, removed to Canterbury
by Ethelmoth, the archbishop of that province.
Gerard, a Venetian, devoted himself to the service of God from his tender years:
entered into a religious house for some time, and then determined to visit the Holy
Land. Going into Hungary, he became acquainted with Stephen, the king of that country,
who made him bishop of Chonad.
Ouvo and Peter, successors of Stephen, being deposed, Andrew, son of Ladislaus,
cousin-german to Stephen, had then a tender of the crown made him upon condition
that he would employ his authority in extirpating the Christian religion out of Hungary.
The ambitious prince came into the proposal, but Gerard being informed of his impious
bargain, thought it his duty to remonstrate against the enormity of Andrew's crime,
and persuade him to withdraw his promise. In this view he undertook to go to that
prince, attended by three prelates, full of like zeal for religion. The new king
was at Alba Regalis, but, as the four bishops were going to cross the Danube, they
were stopped by a party of soldiers posted there. They bore an attack of a shower
of stones patiently, when the soldiers beat them unmercifully, and at length despatched
them with lances. Their martyrdoms happened in the year 1045.
Stanislaus, bishop of Cracow, was descended from an illustrious Polish family.
The piety of his parents was equal to their opulence, and the latter they rendered
subservient to all the purposes of charity and benevolence. Stanislaus remained for
some time undetermined whether he should embrace a monastic life, or engage among
the secular clergy. He was at length persuaded to the latter by Lambert Zula, bishop
of Cracow, who gave him holy orders, and made him a canon of his cathedral. Lambert
died on November 25, 1071, when all concerned in the choice of a successor declared
for Stanislaus, and he succeeded to the prelacy.
Bolislaus, the second king of Poland, had, by nature, many good qualities, but
giving away to his passions, he ran into many enormities, and at length had the appellation
of Cruel bestowed upon him. Stanislaus alone had the courage to tell him of his faults,
when, taking a private opportunity, he freely displayed to him the enormities of
his crimes. The king, greatly exasperated at his repeated freedoms, at length determined,
at any rate, to get the better of a prelate who was so extremely faithful. Hearing
one day that the bishop was by himself, in the chapel of St. Michael, at a small
distance from the town, he despatched some soldiers to murder him. The soldiers readily
undertook the bloody task; but, when they came into the presence of Stanislaus, the
venerable aspect of the prelate struck them with such awe that they could not perform
what they had promised. On their return, the king, finding that they had not obeyed
his orders, stormed at them violently, snatched a dagger from one of them, and ran
furiously to the chapel, where, finding Stanislaus at the altar, he plunged the weapon
into his heart. The prelate immediately expired on May 8, A.D. 1079.
Chapter 4
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